MUSIC: Low Noise, High Bias Mixtape Roundup

First up is someone who’s been getting a good amount of music nerd love, Kelela. She’s down with the Fade to Black (and by extention, Night Slugs) crew. Specifically Kingdom, a producer who we love and you can currently hear on Grand Theft Auto. Her music is a mix of house, glitchy but soulful base, with a healthy dose of 90’s R&B.

A nice change from the male centric rappidy rap that usually clogs the mixtape circuit.

Another non-rappidy rapper is Waka Flocka (apparently he’s lose the “Flame” at the end of his name, divorce?). People may disparage poor Waka for his lack of mic skills, but with Flockavelli he helped resurrect that angry down South stomp which was last seen before Lil John started cheesing in Usher videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ayvx6S-6lI

The first real track on his new mixtape, From Roaches to Rollies, “Obituary” is a return to the Waka we fell in love with before MMG’s Gunplay added a healthy dose of M.O.P which greatly improved the formula.

While Cheez N Dope 2 came out a few weeks ago, it still gets regular play in my walkman. One of the originators of the trap sound (and Juicy J’s brother), and clearly the best rapper out of the Three 6 Mafia camp Project Pat has stayed popular cult wise but never really blew up (his numerous jail stints are probably a reason why). Now his brother is doing tracks with a rapping (!!!) Miley Cyrus, hopefully some of that star power rubs off on him. There’s nothing here that’s too out of the ordinary; shooting, misogynistic raps, bass heavy beats, etc. But it shows that Pat can still keep up (and easily out rap) the youngins. You can get it here.